Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It

by Wendell Potter, Nick Penniman

"A rallying cry to bring government back under the control of the people . . . Their argument is impassioned and accessible." -- Library Journal

American democracy has become coin operated. Special interest groups increasingly control every level of government. The necessity of raising huge sums of campaign cash has completely changed the character of politics and policy making, determining what elected representatives stand for and how their time is spent. The marriage of great wealth and intense political influence has rendered our country unable to address our most pressing problems, from runaway government spending to climate change to the wealth gap. It also defines our daily from the cars we drive to the air we breathe to the debt we owe.


In this powerful work of reportage, Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, two vigilant watchdogs, expose legalized corruption and link it to the kitchen-table issues citizens face every day. Inciting our outrage, the authors then inspire us by introducing us to an army of reformers laying the groundwork for change, ready to be called into action. The battle plan for reform presented is practical, realistic, and concrete. No one--except some lobbyists and major political donors--likes business as usual, and this book aims to help forge a new army of reformers who are compelled by a patriotic duty to fight for a better democracy.


An impassioned, infuriating, yet ultimately hopeful call to arms, Nation on the Take lays bare the reach of moneyed interests and charts a way forward, toward the recovery of America's original promise.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Wendell Potter is the senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy. He has appeared on countless television and radio programs and has been quoted in newspapers and magazines across the country. Prior to his twenty-five-year career in public relations, he was a journalist for the Memphis Press-Scimitar and Scripps Howard news service.

Reviews

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. A much-needed book. I wanted it to open up eyes for all Americans. But please explain to me how a book on political corruption by Big Money mentions George Soros just once in passing to balance yet one more mention of the Koch Brothers... We have Big Soda, Big Sugar, Big Oil, Big Coal, (Big Green is not discussed), Big Banks, Big Drugs, Big Media, Big Food, Big Housing, Big Education, Big Almost-Everything -- The Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson -- but no discussion of George Soros' influence in our political process? No matter how balanced the book otherwise tries to be, this omission sadly destroyed my trust in the authors efforts. Crony capitalism, corrupt lobbying, campaign abuses are all exposed to a certain degree, but most of the solutions offered often fall into the same Big Government responses that got us into this mess to begin with! The FEC is not going to magically start enforcing rules that it has gleefully neglected for years on end... Federal Commissions and Agencies are thoroughly politicized at this point and do not work for the people anymore. The answers to this level of corruption will not be found there. In fact, it is where much of the corruption resides! The boogie man out there for the authors is Citizens United and, obviously, the foxes are in charge of the henhouse right now with both sides of the political spectrum talking a good game while passing and signing bad laws which only up the ante for larger and larger political donations by the super-rich and adding more "dark money" into the electoral process. The authors try to be encouraging, but I found nothing in their viewpoint to offer much hope for a revolutionary change in the governmental processes of our country. More government will just bring more corruption...

[Rob Kall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent exploration of the many ways that the political and election system are corrupted.
Citizens United is only about 15-20% of the problem. The book was good enough so I did an hour interview with the authors.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are very few books that have influenced me quite as much as this one. The corrosive influence of money in politics really is one of the major reasons why in America we cannot have nice public goods or effective legislative action (the other major reasons would be the Administrative Procedure Act, Taft Hartley act, and the legislative Filibuster). Fixing campaign finance would essentially make much of the progressive agenda possible.

After all, who could (or would want) to defend public officials spending 40 hours a week begging rich people for money so they can stay in office? Certainly not me.

It's important to note that the Author has largely abandoned his own recommend fixes since publishing. His organization, Issue One, has become a "Bipartisan only" organization..... And since no republican will back significant campaign finance reform (like small donor matching), Issue One won't back it either.

It's DEPRESSING that the author and his organization did not back the houses campaign finance and election reform act, HR1.

As a result, he's essentially out of the fight for campaign finance reform.

However, this book was written before he gave up on significant reform, and it effectively argues for what he used to believe in before signing up for mindless centrism.

In that respect, it's still absolutely necessary reading, and is still issue one for me (no pun intended).

A high 4/5 stars

[Thomas Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the current political climate, corruption of all sorts is being discussed so the topic is hardly new. In fact because I spend a lot of time reading about politics I am aware how banks, drug manufacturers, etc. use campaign donors to insure legislation is at least favorable to them. In most cases they get far more than that, essentially a blank check to profit at the expense of citizens. If that was all this book did, there would be little to recommend it. To the authors' credit they devote the final chapter to solutions to the problems. They refer to them as commonsense solutions and they are. They problem is those in power don't seem to have any interest in solutions - at the least they are terrified their opponents won't adopt a new approach and take their seats.

[Marc Parijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads.
This book gives a good overview of how our system is rigged by big money.
The election of Trump and the soon-to-be appointments of his cabinet members will make the corruption of the system even worse. By reading this book, the reader knows what will be coming.
I would highly recommend this book to other readers who are looking for answers about our system and how it works.

[Les Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will make you mad. Big money corrupts politics, endangers our health and safety and costs us money. Lots of money. Big Pharma, the banks, the chemical companies, big food lobby congress members with large political contributions to get measures delayed or eliminated altogether. Many are writing the bills that are getting passed as written by these companies. Change is desperately needed.

[Linda Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book about politics, campaign contributions, and the effect it is having on our society. THere were many graphs in the book that needed additional explanation and several conflicting charts/graphs, but the points of the book are very applicable.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you care about America's future, it's important for you to read this book - regardless of your political persuasion.

[Ruth Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

most of the jargon went over my head but it was understandable and very good

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every American, regardless of political affiliation. This book targets the ills of big money PACs and the wealthiest of individuals and how they control our political system. "The marriage of great wealth and intense political influence has rendered our country unable to address our most pressing problems. The authors outline the problems our government faces and some major reforms to "make our democracy work and truly citizen-led." "If we don't enact sweeping campaign finance reform we will never see progress on the major challenges facing our country because the special interest and powerful lobbies will continue to get their way, crowding out the desires, hopes and dreams of the people." The authors highlight real issues that impact our health, safety, jobs, education, income, environment, etc. They target Republicans as well as Democrats. A truly fascinating book. I highly recommend it.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this through goodreads giveaway.

Like many of these type of books, the first 2/3 or so is examples and data describing and convincing the reader of the problem. I didn't need much convincing that there is a problem of money corrupting the political process, but the view was reinforced.

I'm a bit skeptical of the last third of the book "What to do about it"...
[Spoiler alert]
What to do about it is Nominate judges that will not be bought, and enact campaign finance reform.... Didn't you just spend most of the book saying I (as a voter / constituent) have no say unless I'm donating millions to a campaign?

The author's political leaning is fairly apparent throughout the book, but he makes enough effort to be even handed that I wasn't too bothered by it. Even though he leans the opposite way I do.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really gives a lot of facts and validates what a lot of people think and feel about American politics. It is incredibly aggravating, frustrating and down right depressing how little the American political system and election system truly functions or does any good for the people or the common good. The wealth gap and the power that money buys in America ensures that no matter what the authors promise, change is not something we can expect. Take for instance the voice of the voters in 2016 and how money drowned out what they were clearly calling for. The promises at the end of this book that if we all stand together, get involved and make a change that change will come are just words in the winds.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Goodreads Giveaway) - I wasn't sure how interested I'd be in a book about big money and campaign financing. It turns out that I'm really interested in it. The authors do an amazing job of making you recognize how big money influences almost everything you do, eat, wear, and breathe. It was disturbing and depressing to realize just how entrenched our government is in corporate money, and I struggled through the middle of this book which covered various industries and their lobbying exploits. But the ending was wonderful. Finally a book that talks gloom and doom but offers practical solutions!! I'm so glad I read this, and I feel a lot more informed for the 2016 elections. Great read.

[Marc Medley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and Insightful Read

I found the book to be a very thought provoking and eye opening read. It also confirmed once again for me how profits trumps people. We as human beings are not the top priority as can be seen in the pharmaceutical and food industries where one would think is about sustaining life, it is actually feeding into sickness and death in the name of profits.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all this was a good book and one that makes you ask a few questions here and there. 76,000 pages of tax code??? Why? Well this book tries to explain it and was worth the read. I won this
book on GoodReads and like I do with most my wins I will be paying it forward by giving my
win either to a friend or library to enjoy.

[Randy Reichenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really brings to light the worst problem facing our democracy. It gives examples of how our current campaign finance system doesn't work for the average citizen. It goes into detail about how money from corrportations and the wealthy inflences and corrupts various issues (health care, banking, pharmaceutical). It is actually pretty depressing until you make it to the end where it describes various remedies to the crisis. A group that I volunteer for (www.represent.us) is mentioned a few times. I think everyone should read this book and be aware of this issue because it is the root cause of most of America's problems. The system is broken and needs to be fixed.

[Lydia Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was well researched, opening my eyes to the high degree of corruption that exists in politics. While they offer general information on how we can effect change, it seems like a drop in the bucket given the power that lobbyists wield.

[Sherry]

Another eye-opening book by this author. It took me a while to read this book because I couldn't read much without getting REALLY angry or REALLY depressed. All but the last two chapters are about how corporations and big money owns our government and our democratic (choke) process. Specific chapters about how we got to this place with the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, repeal of laws intended to prevent "buying" legislation/legislators, big pharma, oil, banks, etc. The last two chapters are supposed to be what we can do to change this situation. They break each chapter down into four main steps or actions but it will require that mainstream America gets involved and demands that things change. I was hoping for a big rally at the end or a "magic bullet" but there is none. It just requires grass roots effort; getting involved; changing the discussion; building a reform movement; winning at the state and local levels; and then at the federal level. A difficult but "must read" book for people who care about what's going wrong with our system.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Your government has been bought and paid for. The good news is that there's hope, but only if you and I actually do something about it.

Read this. Then do something.